It's your choice re Seville tickets, what do you do?

[Tannochsidebear 2,463]

So, hypothetically, whoever is running our club these days passes the buck over to the good bears on RM to decide what we should do regarding our match in Seville next month.

 

Now it is your job to put the interests of the club first and foremost to secure our European future. Dont just answer because you are already booked up, this is only hypothetical remember.

 

Here is the situation I want you all to answer.

 

UEFA fine us for the events in Bucharest, and warn us that we are on our last warning, and any further problems WILL result in our expulsion from UEFA competitions for the next 2 seasons.

 

So, you have a decision to make regarding our game in Seville.

 

Do you;

 

1. Refuse to take any allocation for the match, knowing it will badly let down decent Rangers fans who have already made bookings, and will affect the team by having no support for what could be the match that decides our last 16 fate.

 

2. Take the tickets, but only enough for official day trip Thomas Cook charter flight travel club members, with no independants, and herd them about all day.

 

3. Take the full allocation, but only distribute tickets at the ground 2 hours before kick off, and not to anyone who has been drinking heavily.

 

4. Take the full allocation, distribute as usual and hope this game passes off as peacefully as the vast majority of games.

 

In addition to the above 4 options, if you believe there is a better alternative, please vote for 5. Other option, and put your preferred option on this post.

 

I am just interested in the views of fellow bears, especially the ones who travel to European away games as to what we all think should happen, given the problem the club now has with UEFA.

[Wija 0]

Sorry but no goer!

[pete 2,511]

Too much to lose now the club has to refuse tickets.

[Frankie 8,825]

Absolutely no way should we refuse tickets.

 

Doing that suggests we have no idea how to fix the problem we have while laying the blame solely at our support. In actual fact there are various ways in which we can do this - some included above, some not.

 

The club need to work with individual fans like yourself, fan groups, the police, the foreign office and opposition clubs to determine possible issues and resolve them before we travel. I didn't want to bore people with individual suggestions but since you ask here is my tuppence worth. There is no reason this can't be organised before the Seville match next month.

 

I believe Rangers FC send advance parties of their own security staff to such venues. Why does it take until after games before the obvious failures in the facilities are highlighted? This should be done beforehand and, if necessary, restrictions placed upon how many tickets we accept. RSC and travel club members should have representatives put in place on this advance party and these people should form part of the security team at the game.

 

During the match period itself, the club also have to be proactive. They must send their own security staff to travel with the away supporters to quickly identify possible issues in situ. Communication is key in that regard. I'm not saying some fans need to be arrested or split up from others but communicated with early to let them know the problems that may arise. If they ignore that advice, be it on their own head.

 

At the ground, further staff need to be present to ensure the safe entrance of fans into the stadium while also being available in the aisles for questions/concerns during the game. High vis jackets can be used of a differing colour to stewards. These people can be first point of contacts in the event of issues that arise. I'm sure various fans who regularly travel wouldn't mind volunteering for such a task on a rotation basis. Similarly, these people can give out info from the club/security/UEFA if/when required. A two-way system of information gathering and communication is vital.

 

The same methods can be used for ensuring the supporters leave the stadium and country in an orderly fashion. After match meetings can then be organised in Scotland to find out what worked well and what didn't before reports are sent to everyone in the travel club and every RSC.

 

While not perfect, I suggest all the above can be done easily enough if the club and supporters really want to fix this problem. Dialogue is needed, respect given and official help offered.

[maineflyer 0]

If I had tickets and the time to go, I would bloody well go. I'm confident I wouldn't get drunk and I would try hard not to annoy or offend anyone, so why would I be afraid of harming the club. Decent fans have no reason to be put off in any way. And the vast majority of Rangers fans are decent people.

[Tannochsidebear 2,463]

If I had tickets and the time to go, I would bloody well go. I'm confident I wouldn't get drunk and I would try hard not to annoy or offend anyone, so why would I be afraid of harming the club. Decent fans have no reason to be put off in any way. And the vast majority of Rangers fans are decent people.

 

You see, MF, if everyone just wanted to follow the team, have a good day/couple of days away, and be intelligent enough to avoid any flashpoints, this thread would not exist. Unfortunately, not everyone is like that, and while we are talking about probably less than 1% of our travelling totals cause any grief at all, this tiny minority get all the publicity, and take away from all the good relations built up with 99% of our support and the locals in whatever city we go to.

 

But the question is not what would you do with the time off and tickets to go, it was put yourself in the club's position, with the good of the club at stake, and decide what to do for the best.

 

It is a tough position to be in, and we all think we can run the club better than those currently doing it, so here we are with a real live situation, what do you do?

[Tannochsidebear 2,463]

Absolutely no way should we refuse tickets.

 

Doing that suggests we have no idea how to fix the problem we have while laying the blame solely at our support. In actual fact there are various ways in which we can do this - some included above, some not.

 

The club need to work with individual fans like yourself, fan groups, the police, the foreign office and opposition clubs to determine possible issues and resolve them before we travel. I didn't want to bore people with individual suggestions but since you ask here is my tuppence worth. There is no reason this can't be organised before the Seville match next month.

 

I believe Rangers FC send advance parties of their own security staff to such venues. Why does it take until after games before the obvious failures in the facilities are highlighted? This should be done beforehand and, if necessary, restrictions placed upon how many tickets we accept. RSC and travel club members should have representatives put in place on this advance party and these people should form part of the security team at the game.

 

During the match period itself, the club also have to be proactive. They must send their own security staff to travel with the away supporters to quickly identify possible issues in situ. Communication is key in that regard. I'm not saying some fans need to be arrested or split up from others but communicated with early to let them know the problems that may arise. If they ignore that advice, be it on their own head.

 

At the ground, further staff need to be present to ensure the safe entrance of fans into the stadium while also being available in the aisles for questions/concerns during the game. High vis jackets can be used of a differing colour to stewards. These people can be first point of contacts in the event of issues that arise. I'm sure various fans who regularly travel wouldn't mind volunteering for such a task on a rotation basis. Similarly, these people can give out info from the club/security/UEFA if/when required. A two-way system of information gathering and communication is vital.

 

The same methods can be used for ensuring the supporters leave the stadium and country in an orderly fashion. After match meetings can then be organised in Scotland to find out what worked well and what didn't before reports are sent to everyone in the travel club and every RSC.

 

While not perfect, I suggest all the above can be done easily enough if the club and supporters really want to fix this problem. Dialogue is needed, respect given and official help offered.

 

 

The problem is Frankie, all that already happens and has happened for years. The advance party go out and agree with the locals what will happen come matchnight, how many turnstiles will be open, where we are allowed to place our stewards, buses, etc. What happened in Romania was that all the things we had agreed to with the Romanians then didn't happen when it came to matchnight. The problems for this all clearly lie with the Romanians, and they will be punished for it, but that doesn't get away from the fact that a small number of us took the bait that was laid out in front of us, again, and we clearly cannot continue to get it right 90% of the time, only to be let down by poor organisational work from our hosts, and us getting into trouble as tension rises.

 

It was very noticable that the normal number of Rangers vested stewards were not outside our turnstiles in Bucharest, and as they were taken to Romania with us, I can only assume there presence was not welcomed by the Romanian officials despite prior arrangements.

 

Anyway, back to the question, we have a problem for Seville, you are in charge of the club, what do you do?

[Frankie 8,825]

I don't travel abroad so I'm not aware of what procedures do and don't happen. However, I've never heard of fan reps being available in situ during a game (or elsewhere) so am surprised this already happens. I was in Manchester though and didn't see any of the above.

 

Obviously, if this does already happen, the scale needs to be extended/refined as it doesn't work very well. Rangers should demand their stewards are present right through the away trip. UEFA reps are also available so we should ensure they're present at turnstiles etc. More fans should be involved so people feel they can trust folk to raise issues.

 

Like I say, it is up to us (and Rangers) to place pressure on the authorities to help us instead of blaming us.

 

To answer your question (I ticked the Thomas Cook option), as I feel fans are entitled to go but we need to place more restrictions on how we facilitate their travel.

[maineflyer 0]

You see, MF, if everyone just wanted to follow the team, have a good day/couple of days away, and be intelligent enough to avoid any flashpoints, this thread would not exist. Unfortunately, not everyone is like that, and while we are talking about probably less than 1% of our travelling totals cause any grief at all, this tiny minority get all the publicity, and take away from all the good relations built up with 99% of our support and the locals in whatever city we go to.

 

But the question is not what would you do with the time off and tickets to go, it was put yourself in the club's position, with the good of the club at stake, and decide what to do for the best.

 

It is a tough position to be in, and we all think we can run the club better than those currently doing it, so here we are with a real live situation, what do you do?

 

Well in that case you either hunt down the 1% and shoot them like dogs or you continue to take your chances and accept the penalties when they come along. I'm not sure I see the point of a football club that takes steps to prevent its followers from attending games, especially when it knows the only ones who won't go will be the well-behaved ones and the hoodlums will be there anyway. It' about as pointless as gun control.

 

The fact is you either exclude the trouble makers (and that's extremely difficult to do without police intervention, passport withdrawal, etc) or you do what you can to educate and take the punishment when it comes. There's no magic bullet and self-denial might pander to some but it won't cure the problem.

 

What the club and UEFA might want to do is take seriously the conditions at certain stadia and the conduct of police and security stewards. Maybe Rangers might want to be the ones who refuse to take the field if agreed facilities and arrangements aren't delivered.

 

Like everyone else, I really don't know the answer.

[Super_Ally 0]

My Dad is getting 10-12 tickets for the home end. He lives there. Are we likely to have any problems?